The gilt-head (sea) bream (''Sparus aurata''), known as Orata in antiquity and still today in Italy and Tunisia (known as "Dorada" in Spain, "Dourada" in Portugal and "Dorade Royale" in France), is a fish of the bream family

Sparidae The Sparidae are a family of fish in the order Perciformes, commonly called sea breams and porgies. The sheepshead, scup, and red seabream are species in this family. Most sparids are deep-bodied compressed fish with a small mouth separated by a ...

found in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

and the eastern coastal regions of the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe a ...

. It commonly reaches about in length, but may reach and weigh up to about . The gilt-head bream is generally considered the best tasting of the breams. It is the single species of the genus ''Sparus'' – the Latin name for this fish – which has given the whole family of Sparidae its name. Its specific name, ''aurata'', derives from the gold bar marking between its eyes. The genome of the species was released in 2018, where the authors detected fast evolution of ovary-biased genes likely resulting from the peculiar reproduction mode of the species.

Biology

It is typically found at depths of , but may occur up to , seen singly or in small groups near

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families ( Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the ...

or over sandy bottoms, but sometimes in

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environme ...

during the spring. It mainly feeds on

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater env ...

, but also some plant material.

Fisheries and aquaculture

Gilthead seabream is an esteemed food fish, but catches of wild fish have been relatively modest, between 6,100 and 9,600 tonnes in 2000–2009, primarily from the Mediterranean. In addition, gilthead seabream have traditionally been cultured extensively in coastal lagoons and saltwater ponds. However, intensive rearing systems were developed during the 1980s, and gilthead seabream has become an important

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lotus ...

species, primarily in the Mediterranean area and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

. Reported production was negligible until the late 1980s, but reached 140,000 tonnes in 2010, thus dwarfing the capture fisheries production. Greece is the biggest seabream producer in Europe, followed by Turkey. Gilthead seabreams in aquaculture are susceptible to parasitic infections, including from ''

Enterospora nucleophila ''Enterospora nucleophila'' is a microsporidian infecting the gilt-head bream (''Sparus aurata''). It develops primarily within the nuclei of rodlet cells and enterocytes, at the intestinal epithelium. It can also be found in cytoplasmic posi ...

''.

Cuisine

The fish is widely used in Mediterranean cooking, under a variety of names. In Tunisia, it is known locally as "wrata". In Spain, it is known as "dorada", and in France, as "dorade".

References

* Alan Davidson, ''Mediterranean Seafood'', Penguin, 1972. , pp. 86–108.

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q237046

gilt-head bream The gilt-head (sea) bream (''Sparus aurata''), known as Orata in antiquity and still today in Italy and Tunisia (known as "Dorada" in Spain, "Dourada" in Portugal and "Dorade Royale" in France), is a fish of the bream family Sparidae found in th ...

Commercial fish Fish of Europe Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Fish of the North Sea

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Biology

Fisheries and aquaculture

Cuisine

See also

References

External links